Tavarez, Smith assigned to Pawtucket

Julian Tavarez and his $2.8M salary have passed through waivers, and he has accepted an assignment at Pawtucket. Teams were interested in him, just not in paying that much money for him. That’s one advantage big-market clubs have in baseball; they can afford reserves that get paid like small-market regulars. Looks like they’re pretty committed to this Craig Hansen experiment.

Reliever Chris Smith was also sent down to make some room on the roster. He was with the team for a couple of games, but didn’t have an opportunity to pitch.